Gab coupling



(No M0691.) .A v 2 Smeets--Sheetl 1.

l J; EMBREDITR GAR G OUPLING. Y v No. 259.0321'. PatentedJune-', 1882.

042th:- my.

UNITED STATE-s" PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. MEREDITH, F SURATTSVILLE, PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, MD.

- CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 259,032, dated June 6,1882.

Application filed November 10, 1881. (No model.)

' and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable Yothers skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the laccompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in car-couplers upon whichLetters Patent were granted to me February 17, 1880, in which I`employed hooks placed in a horizontal position,

which opened automatically and closed upon the coupling-pin of the nextcar when thecars were brought together. Y v.

The object of the present improvement is to enable the hooks to beraised and lowered and adjusted and fastened at any desired height inthe draw-head without going between the cars, in order that cars ofditterentheights may be coupled together automatically and withoutdanger to the person who does the work. My

4application for. Letters Patent for this part of my invention wasallowed April 4,1881. I have nowmadeafurther improvement,consisting in alookin gdevice to prevent the hooks from opening after they have closedupon the couplingpin of the next car. All of the above-named objects Iattain by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is an end elevation of a-freight-car, and Fig.2isasideelevation ofpart ofafreightcar,showing different parts ot' raisin gand lowering and locking devices. Fig. 3 is a detached view of' a partofthe raising and lowering device. Fig. 4 is a detached plan view of theraising andlowering andlocking arrangements taken from the bottom. Fig.5is a side elevation ot' a part of a passenger -car, showing a part ofthe raising and lowering device.

F is a crank, something in the form of a bellcrank. It turns upon itsshalt F', to which is attached atright angles the arm F. This arm F" hasan elbow, and at its lower extremity there is a hook, f, which enters astaple, l.

rlhis staplel is secured to a plate, I The plate I- is attached to avertical rod or pin, P. The

rod P is so arranged as to have an upward and lbody of the car, or inany other suitable position, such as the rails of the platform in passenger-cars. -Itis intended tosecure the crankarm F, in any position thatmay be required.

K K are draw-heads. B is a hand-wheel attached to shaft D. S is thecoupling-pin. C is a ratchet-wheel and pawl.- H is a pulley.

Gr is a pulley attached to shaft D. When the ,crank-arm F is turned tothe right and downward the hooked point f of the arm F" will have anupward motion and lift the plate L, together with the rod P, as well asthe coupling-hooks J J, to a higher position. When high enough to engageand couple with the next car the arm F must be released. When this isdone it will engage in the teeth of the ratchet-plate E, and thus beheldin the proper position to allow thecarsto couple; but should the arm Fbe down, and it is desired to couple with a lower car, the arm Finustthen be raised to the desired height, and this will lower thecoupling-hooks J J, and the arm F, upon being released, will be held inits proper position by the plate E.

The locking device is shown in Figs. l, 2, 4. It consists of a plate orwedge, Y, having a casing or guide, Z, in which it slides freely up anddown, sovas to be raised or lowered. When raised it occupies a positionbetween the coupling-hooks J J, tting snugly between the two and justtouching both of them, in such manner as to prevent the rear ends of thehook-bars J J fromv approaching each other, and in this Way lockingthem, so that in any strain upon the hooks when the cars are goingaround a curve, or from any other cause, they will not open, and thusrelease the couplingpin and allow the cars to become separated from eachother, as they would otherwise be apt to do upon any sudden strain orwhen heavily loaded. The wedge or plate Y is raised and lowered by IOO 5joint.

means of the leverU, operating upon the shaft U', to which it isattached at right angles, and which has an arm, V, pivoted to a link, W,which is attached to the wedge Y by a hinged I do not confine myself tothis exact construction, as it might be varied without departing from myinvention. The pivoted hooks R R are intended to hold the lever U inplace either when locked or unlocked.

I claim as my invention- 1. In acar-coupling, thelcvers or bell-cranks FF Ii",in combination with staplel and plate I, as described, and for thepurposes set forth.

2. The combination, in a car-coupling, of the levers F I1" F, hook f,staple l, and ratchetplate E, substantially as shown and described, andfor thc purposes set forth.

JOHN H. MEREDI'IH.

Witnesses W. T. JOHNSON, H. M. ROGERS.

